It's All About Survival

Chapter 12

The school year finally began. I saw my former base, Kiki. Looking at us now, you would have never guessed we couldn't stand each other back during our cheer days. We really became friends just like that. As much as I said that I wanted to turn over to a brand new a leaf, a familiar face here and there didn't hurt.

When I found my way to my class, I was thankful to see a whole brand new batch of faces. I only knew about 2 people in that class. I was thankful that this was the group I was going to spend my year with. The two people were my former back, Elena & a girl from my section known as Gianna. We were never close so that didn't bother me. Thank God, he really was there listening to my prayers.

I hardly ever saw anyone else. I mean I had my girls but Fairuz was seen once in a blue moon. I was glad because I felt a shiver go down my spine every time we crossed paths. Ahmad, Abdullahi and Karim were all transferred to different schools and as for Amir, I honestly never saw him. It was for the best.

That school year was honestly one of the best for me. I made amazing friends. Now, every black person is about to feel me on this. There is a difference between ordinary guy friends and nigga friends. Well, Tiff, Dani and I had been praying for nigga friends. God gave us a whole gang. We became friends with Richard, Remy, Abel, Caleb and eventually Vic too. They were bullies but they were amazing friends. They still are.

I was pretty satisfied with my life. Unfortunately, supressing that event took a toll on me. Around its anniversary date, I began having nightmares and it began to affect me physically too. Everyone began commenting on how tired I looked. I brushed it off as too many tests to study for. Soon, this began to manifest itself in the form of panic attacks whenever anybody mentioned rape, consent or anything related to it. That was when I finally talked about it with my girls. They were all supportive. However, someone kept her friendship with Fairuz even after I told her of what he did to me. It was simply because as she put it, she had no friends in her class and she didn't know how to make friends. It was the beginning of the end for me and Ariana.